He was the highest head of Soviet secret services to have passed to the west. Oleg Gordievsky, ex-colonel of the KGB, who defected in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and was decorated in 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II, died, British media announced on Friday March 21.
Oleg Gordievsky died peacefully at the age of 86 at his home in Surrey, southwest of London, have announced several media including the Bbc And The Guardian.
Anti-terrorist police attended the medical examiner, but his death is not considered suspect, they said.
Crosses
A double agent for several years, Oleg Gordievsky had given significant information to the British, MI5 and MI6 services. Posting in London, he was the de facto chief of the KGB section. He defeated in 1985 when the Soviets discovered that he worked for the West.
After this defection, the British government had asked twenty-five members of the Soviet Embassy in London, accused of being agents working under coverage, of leaving the United Kingdom. Moscow had then expelled twenty-five British. A second wave of crossed expulsions had followed.
In 2007, at the Buckingham Palace, Oleg Gordievsky had been decorated by Queen Elizabeth II, who had made him a companion of the order of St Michel and St George (CMG) for “Services rendered to the UK security”.
Source: Lemonde